Strategic points in which the study of adipocytes will prove fruitful for obesity and metabolic-related problems. Traditional areas of concentrated research have focused on cell differentiation to form lipid-assimilating adipocytes (1), lipid metabolism under a variety of physiologies and nutrient loads (2), and (more recently) adipocyte production of local and systemic regulatory agents (3). However, new targets like deciphering the potential mechanisms of mature adipocyte dedifferentiation (5) to form proliferative-competent progeny cells like additional preadipocytes (4) are being carefully evaluated.
